Referral of the controversial Benfica-Real Madrid nominated for Norway-Portugal

A UEFA announced, in the form of a statement issued through the official platforms early this Friday morning, that François Letexier is the elected referee to whistle the meeting of the second round of the League of Nations group phase, which will place, face to face, Norway and Portugal.

The game is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. next Sunday at Ullevaal Staidion in Oslo, and the arbitration team will be almost entirely French, with assistants Cyril Mugnier and Mehdi Rahmouni, the fourth referee Jérémie Pignard and AVAR Nicolas Rainville, the only exception being VAR, the Belgian Bram Van Driessche.

This will be the 15th time in the career that the 37-year-old judge will cross with national football, and the most mediatique of all took place last February, when Benfica defeated Real Madrid, in the Stadium of Light, by 0-1, for the first hand of the Champions League playoffs.

At the time, remember, activated the anti-racism protocol, on account of a complaint by Vinícius Júnior against Gianluca Prestianni, who would later be punished, but for homophobic insults. Already in the final stretch, it would even end by expulsion of the then coach of the incarnates, José Mourinho, due to protests.

In the three other matches whistled by François Letexier, the eagles added two victories (over Standard Liège, by 3-0, and Bayern Munich, by 1-0) and a desaire (before Barcelona, by 3-1). In the four that involved Sporting, there was a triumph (over Qarabag by 2-0) and three draws (against Midtjylland, Juventus and Arsenal).

The Gaul was also present in a match of FC Porto (lose against AS Roma, by 3-2), one of Sporting Braga (disable before the Rangers, by 3-1, after extension). In the UEFA Youth League, he commanded a Sporting match (defeat against Barcelona, 0-1) and another from FC Porto (victory over Chelsea, 3-1).

In the middle of all of this, curiously, he never whistled any duel of the main selection of Portugal. Still, it was present in two clashes of the sub-21... and then with a 100% victorious record, fruit of the results obtained before England (by 2-0) and Italy (by 5-3), after extension).

The League of Nations accounts

At the moment, Portugal and Norway share the leadership of Group 4 of the League of Nations, with three points each, as a result of the triumphs achieved, respectively, over Wales (by 1-0) and Denmark (by 3-2, also on Thursday, with an ‘bis’ of the inevitable Erling Haaland).

Also on Sunday, but at 5 p.m., Denmark and Wales (which continue to ‘zero’, so they live at the bottom of the table) will measure forces at Parken in Copenhagen. Here too, curiously, the judge will be French, more specifically Willy Delajod, who will have as assistants Erwan Finjean and Valentin Evrard, as fourth referee Ruddy Buquet, as VAR Bastien Dechepy and as AVAR Marc Bollengier.